Manny Pacquiao arrives in Australia, talks camp

Manny Pacquiao has arrived in Australia ahead of next Saturday’s “Battle of Brisbane,” where he’ll face home fighter Jeff Horn, with Pacquiao defending the WBO welterweight title.

The fight will air live in the United States on ESPN, the first event of a new deal between Top Rank and the network, which will take some marquee fighters off of HBO — or at least that’s the idea for now.

Pacquiao, 38, went on Australian radio and attempted to dispel rumors that he had taken it easy in training camp:

"Training is good, we did a lot of hard work, I am very excited for the fans to give a good show to show my best and in boxing ring. Some reports coming out of the Philippines that I haven't been training hard are not true. It just happens that when some of our friends came around to our training camp, we weren't doing much and people assumed I wasn't training hard."

Frankly, even if Pacquiao didn’t have the hardest or best camp of his career, he might be fine. On paper, Horn is pretty overmatched here, and Pacquiao is a gargantuan step in in competition for him.